Mira Bhayandar: The health department attached to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has suspended the licenses of nine diagnostic centres in the twin-city for allegedly defying the provisions mandated under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act, 2003 which aims at preventing female infanticide.
The suspension periods are for various periods ranging from seven days to one month. In response to state government directives, officials from the health department had launched an extensive 21-day long inspection campaign at all diagnostic centres in the twin-city.
Nine centres were found to be flouting the various norms of the act-mostly erratic documentation which indicates wrongdoings. Based on the review process by the advisory committee to ascertain the nature of violations, MBMC’s Chief Medical Officer -Dr. Pramod Padwal in his capacity as the appropriate authority for cases related to PCPNDT, suspended the licenses of six centres for a week and the remaining three for a month.
The ultrasound machines of the centres were also sealed by the health department personnel. “We regularly conduct inspections once every three months, to detect if there are any anomalies, but this was a comprehensive drive.” said a health officer.
There were a total of 1229 medical establishments including- 223 hospitals, 878 clinics/ dispensaries, 58 pathology labs and 70 diagnostic centres registered with MBMC’s health department till last year. However, considering more additions and the presence of illegal ones, the actual figure could be much higher, sources said.
The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, or PCPNDT Act, was passed in 2003 as an amendment to the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1994. The PCPNDT Act aims to improve the regulation of sex selection technology and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques.
